Pictorial-based interfaces in computer programs are well-known. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,752,069 issued to Okada in 1988 allows a video game user to change the movement of a character on the video screen by shifting a lever in the desired direction. An arrow on the computer screen indicates the direction in which the lever ought to be shifted in order to effect successful movement of the character on the screen. Since the arrow simply tells the user how to behave in order to succeed in the game, the game does not require any independent thought on the part of the user.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,414 issued to Rosendahl in 1995 relates to a manipulable icon. Icons are typically two dimensional and display information about aspects of a computer program. The icon disclosed in this patent is notionally three dimensional and can be manipulated to show different information about an application such as the name of a document, its size, its creator, copyright information, etc. The icon described in this patent acts as a vehicle to transmit information about one or many documents to the user. The icon does not otherwise help the user interact with a particular computer application. In other words, while the icon provides information to the user, it does not help the user communicate information to a computer application.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,498,002 issued to Gechter in 1996 describes an interactive, electronic game having, among other aspects, "character behaviour controllers". The patent describes a game in which a user can choose a character and then control its behaviour according to the character's "character controller logic". For example, when a character is selected, a pop-up window may appear allowing the user to modify the character's actions or behaviour by selecting desired options from the pop-up menu. In other words, the user controls the character's behaviour directly by inputting specific commands. The characters simply behave as instructed by the user. The characters do not react to the user's behaviour or attitude to a particular situation.
There is at least one game available in which the characters behave according to or in response to a user's mood. In other words, the user does not tell the characters how to behave. Rather, in the game "Mode", produced by the company Animatics and available on the World Wide Web on the Internet, the user indicates his or her mood to a particular situation in the game, and the characters in the game react accordingly. The user indicates his or her mood by moving the cursor on the "Mood Bar" depicted on the computer screen and clicking the mouse. The Mood Bar is a rectangle showing a spectrum of colours, with red on the left hand side and green on the right hand side with appropriately varying colours in the middle. The user is meant to indicate his or her mood to a particular character or situation in the game by moving the cursor on the colour that best represents the user's mood (red for angry and green for happy, for example) and clicking the mouse. The characters in the game will then react appropriately in view of the user's mood.
While the Mood Bar does allow the game's characters to behave or react in response to the user's mood, the game does not consider other aspects of the user's personality or emotions. For example, a user could be in a good mood despite negative events that might occur in the game. Accordingly, it would be desirable to allow the characters in a computer game or program to react to aspects of the user's attitude to a situation in the game or program which could change from event to event, even though the user's mood may remain the same. Further, to reflect real-life situations, it may be more helpful or educational to the user to be able to see how his or her attitude may affect a given character's behaviour in a particular situation.
As indicated above, with the Mood Bar, the user points the cursor at a colour that represents his or her mood and clicks the mouse. However, the Mood Bar fails to provide any indication to the user as to the mood just selected or any indication that the program has even registered (or taken into consideration) the newly selected mood.